Letter: Ugly highway billboards damage state's image, beauty

Since the '70s, our family has had visitors from Europe nearly every year. They all loved the natural majesty of our state and had only few complaints.

One of the main criticisms was the abundance of ugly billboards all over the state, especially in urban areas and along major traffic links. Because of this ugliness, some labeled us as a third-world-country state.

Well, I agree with them. This is not only a big, ugly mess that distracts from the beauty of the state, but also adds to the dangers of driving .

I was told years ago that nothing could be done to eliminate or restrict billboards because many of our leaders at various government levels have become involved monetarily and were not about to kill the cow that gave them milk. I do not know how true this is, but I wish some investigative reporters would follow this story.

Billboards should come down, or should be restricted.

How pleasant it is to drive in states that do not allow billboards.

Hopefully, our local leaders will show some guts as they face this problem.

I support the mayor fully in this case and hope county and state officials will make similar efforts.